Esteve Medalist, 8 Round-of-64 Matches Start at Weather-Plagued Mid-Am

What Happened

An airhorn blast went off at exactly 8:46 a.m. EDT on Monday morning at Sleepy Hollow Country Club and stroke-play co-host Fenway Golf Club in nearby Scarsdale, N.Y. For once this week, it wasn’t to stop play for weather, a common theme at the 42nd U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, where multiple suspensions pushed the stroke-play portion of the competition into Monday, creating havoc with the schedule.

With the 22nd anniversary of one of the worst days in American history – the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon as well as the crash of United Flight 93 in rural western Pennsylvania – the USGA honored the thousands who lost their lives that day with a one-minute moment of silence. Airhorns were used to stop and restart play.

But it wouldn’t be the 2023 Mid-Am without a weather delay and one came at 4:04 p.m. and ended 131 minutes later. Only eight of the 32 opening-round matches managed to get onto the 6,809-yard, par-71 C.B. Macdonald design that was recently renovated by Gil Hanse. Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:04 p.m.

Almost the entire 16-for-14 playoff for the final spots in the match-play draw – the cut came at 3-over-par 144 – was completed before darkness as two players, former Alabama assistant coach Hunter Hamrick, of Pike Road, Ala., and Paul Mitzel, of Seattle, Wash., are headed to a sixth extra hole on Tuesday morning to determine the 64th and final seed.   

At least the stroke-play portion of the championship finally finished on Monday at 1:50 p.m. at Fenway (10:21 a.m. at Sleepy Hollow), with cancer survivor Jeronimo Esteve, 42, of Puerto Rico, snagging medalist honors with a 6-under total of 135. He was one stroke better than four-time medalist and 2014 champion Scott Harvey, 45, of Greensboro, N.C.

Four players posted 4-under 137s, including Nate McCoy, 33, of Ankeny, Iowa, the son of 2013 champion and victorious 2023 USA Walker Cup captain Mike McCoy. The other three at that number were Sam Jones, 27, of New Zealand, Harry Bolton, 26, of Australia, and Blair Hamm, 32, of Birmingham, Ala.

The group at 3-under 138 included two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad, 32, of Newport Beach, Calif., who completed his second round on Sunday; 2022 and 2023 Georgia Mid-Amateur champion Nate Gahman, 32, of Albany, Ga.; Brady Shivers, 36, of Lubbock, Texas; Jack Schultz, 33, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Chris Devlin, 48, of Hoover, Ala.; Jimmy Castles, 27, of Cupertino, Calif.; Derek Smith, 39, of Fayetteville, Ark.; Kevin Grady, 35, of Catonsville, Md.; and Andres Schonbaum, 32, of Argentina.

Esteve, competing in his eighth U.S. Mid-Amateur, followed up a first-round 67 at par-70, 6,578-yard Fenway Golf Club with a 3-under 68 at Sleepy Hollow.

“It’s amazing,” said Esteve, who has competed in seven Latin America Amateur Championships and represented Puerto Rico in four World Amateur Team Championships. “It certainly wasn’t my intention this week. My goal was to make match play and make a deep run. I have made match play several times before and haven’t really done it. I worked really hard getting ready for this tournament, so it is affirmation of the work I have put in. I really like the golf course and I am playing well.”

In his delayed second round, Esteve birdied holes 12, 14 and 15. His 5-wood second to par-5 12th started his birdie run. He knocked his pitching-wedge approach on No. 14 6 feet past the flagstick, and then he two-putted the par-5 15th after reaching the green with a knock-down 6-iron second shot.

McCoy, in his sixth full year as the director of handicapping and course rating for the Iowa Golf Association, had thoughts of being medalist when he birdied his first four holes at Fenway and posted a 5-under 30 on the outward nine, one shot off the championship nine-hole record. Three consecutive bogeys coming from No. 11 ended those hopes, but as someone who has been around USGA championships seemingly since birth, Nate McCoy knows everyone starts on the ground floor in match play.

“It probably was one of the best nines I’ve played this season,” said McCoy, who had his father on his bag after employing his cousin, Ben McCoy, during Saturday’s first round at Sleepy Hollow. “It was nice to build a little cushion; you know the whole goal obviously is just to get to match play.”

Brad Tilley, 40, of Easton, Conn., a member at Sleepy Hollow who won events at both stroke-play venues in 2022 – the Westchester Open at Sleepy and Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur at Fenway – had a few anxious moments early in his second round at Fenway on Monday before settling for a 1-over 71, which advanced him to match play. Starting on No. 10, Tilley bogeyed his first two holes and made a clutch par save on No. 12. He eventually got into a rhythm on his second nine with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3. He also holed a 6-foot par putt on the par-4 ninth that produced a fist pump and a nice reception from the 10 to 15 members of his rooting section. Tilley momentarily thought he needed the 4 to qualify for match play. It turned out, Tilley was within two shots of the cutline at 1-over 142.

“You hate to start bogey-bogey,” said Tilley, the MGA’s 2022 Player of the Year. “But I had to tell myself that those are two of the holes many people are going to bogey out here. When it happens in the middle of your round, it’s a little easier to digest. Starting that way, you feel like you are behind the 8-ball. I didn’t hit my best shot into 12, but I was able to make a [critical] up and down [for par], which kind of got me going for the day.”

What’s Next

The Round-of-64 matches will resume at 7 a.m. EDT as will the resumption of the 16-for-14 playoff that is down to the final two players for the last spot. The plan is to then play the Round of 32 in the afternoon. Admission is free and spectators are welcome to attend.

Notable

• Due to the weather delays, the playoff holes were adjusted at Sleepy Hollow. The 16-for-14 playoff for the final spots started on the par-5 15th and had to finish after five extra holes with two players remaining for the last spot. Matt Van Zandt (35 feet) and CJ Brock (40 feet) each holed eagle putts on the first playoff hole to advance. Birdies were recorded by Keith Guest, Ben Goforth, South Dakota State men’s golf coach Parker Edens, Logan Blondell, Jason Bataille, Brice Wilkinson, Conor O’Brien, Andrew Price and Bobby Massa. Those nine players also advanced into match play. Trey Cassity and Charles Soule registered 4s on the fourth playoff hole (No. 18) to qualify.
  
  
• The stroke averages at the two stroke-play venues were nearly identical: 74.7 at Fenway and 74.4 at Sleepy Hollow, although the former is a par 70 and the latter a par 71. The 481-yard, par-4 eighth hole was the toughest at Sleepy Hollow (4.61 average), while the 502-yard, par-5 15th hole was the easiest (4.53). At Fenway, the hardest hole was the 475-yard fifth (4.75) and the easiest was the 270-yard, par-4 first (3.76).
  
  
• Todd White, who won the U.S. Senior Amateur 12 days ago at Martis Camp Club, was among the notables to make match play, posting 1-over 142. He is looking to become the first player in USGA history to win both the U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Am titles.
  
  
• Other notables to advance included two-time champion and four-time victorious USA Walker Cupper Stewart Hagestad, 2021 runner-up Mark Costanza, 2022 runner-up Hugh Foley, 2019 runner-up Joseph Deraney, 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up Evan Beck, and 2014 runner-up Brad Nurski.
  
  
• Craig McCoy, of Frisco, Texas, had the low round at Sleepy Hollow with a 5-under 66. It was an 11-stroke turnaround from Round 1 at Fenway and his 2-over total of 143 earned him a match-play spot.
  
  
• Pete Tilley was hoping his nephew, Brad Tilley, would qualify for this year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, a venue not far from his suburban Denver home. But when he didn’t, Pete, decided to make the 1,800-plus mile drive to New York to see Brad compete at his home course. Pete watched Saturday’s first round, but didn’t stay in the area for Monday’s weather-delayed second round at Fenway G.C.
  
  
• Seven past champions missed the cut for match play: four-time winner Nathan Smith, Sammy Schmitz (2015), defending champion Matthew McClean, Matt Parziale (2017), Kevin O’Connell (2018) and Lukas Michel (2017). Mike McCoy, the 2013 winner, withdrew on Sunday for medical reasons and caddied for his son, Nathan, on Monday.
  
  
• Other notable players who failed to qualify included Travis Wadkins, the son of 1970 U.S. Amateur champion and 1977 PGA champ Lanny Wadkins, 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champions Chad Wilfong and Davis Womble, 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links runner-up Cody Paladino, 2023 U.S. Open qualifier Christian Cavaliere, 2006 U.S. Amateur runner-up John Kelly, Sam Straka, the brother of 2023 European Ryder Cupper and PGA Tour winner Sepp Straka, Andrew Paysse, the 2022 quarterfinalist who is Scottie Scheffler’s brother-in-law, and Los Angeles-based music agent Jeff Azoff, who manages Harry Styles among others.
  
  
• Interesting enough, a Nate Smith did survive the cut. That would be the competitor from Tetonia, Idaho, who posted 1-under-par 140.
  
  
• Evan Russell, of St. Albans, Vt., withdrew prior to Monday’s resumption of Round 2 at Sleepy Hollow C.C. He had opened with a 78 at Fenway.

Quotable

“I didn’t sleep last night. We stopped on [No.] 6 tee [at Sleepy Hollow]. Honestly … I was just thinking about that tee ball. In the practice round I had some bad advice and I hit in the trees, [so] it was just a disaster. I smoked that ball, hit in the middle of the fairway and set up a pretty easy birdie. That settled me down again.” – Jeronimo Esteve

“I had that thumbprint par 3 (No. 16 at Sleepy Hollow) to start on. I hit a million pitching wedges in my sleep. I couldn’t sleep. To come back out and play three holes is almost worse than coming back out and playing 15. I definitely got the good end of the draw with the rain and all. I am grateful for that for sure.” – Nate Gahman (3-under 138) on playing his final three holes of stroke play on Monday morning

“I think the course fits me better here than at Cherry Hills (2023 U.S. Amateur). The rough isn’t quite as penal here. In stroke play I am hitting 3-iron and 3-wood a lot. I told my wife that I would love to bust driver here but in stroke play it is not worth it. It’s just fairways and greens and make birdies when they come to me.” – Gahman on Sleepy Hollow

“I’ve actually had the opportunity to go back and tour [Ground Zero] since then. Being a teacher and in the history department, although I teach government, it’s something that I still try to emphasize to the students of the impact of that day. Now, the students that I teach were not born when that took place, so it is challenging to put it into perspective for them. But at the same time, it is something that needs to be done.” – Todd White on the moment of silence for the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks

“Weird. Roamed around the house. Read the book that they gave us [as a player gift], “The Awakening of Sleepy Hollow.” My uncle (Pete Tilley) was in town. I don’t get a chance to spend a lot of time with him [because he lives outside of Denver). Had a nice dinner with my dad. Just tried to kill some time. Watched the US Open tennis [men’s singles final].” – Brad Tilley on how he spent an unexpected day off from the Mid-Am on Sunday

“I was surprised he made it today. I was happy he walked the whole thing with me. He sat down a lot. He was out of breath. I kept checking on him. But he was doing OK.” – Nate McCoy on having his father, Mike McCoy, serving on his caddie despite feeling a bit under the weather

David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.